As a member of the Forbes Wealth team, I've spent countless hours poring over the SEC filings and public records of the billionaires of the Forbes 400. I've valued private companies from gypsum producers to the world's largest restaurant chain and interviewed some of America's most successful entrepreneurs. We're all chasing the dream; I'm here to remind you that some people make it.

Who Got Rich This Week: A New Billionaire

William Erbey has officially joined today's biggest gainer, Carlos Slim, in the ranks of the world's billionaires.

After a hiatus that produced the 2012 Forbes 400, the definitive annual chronicle of American wealth, Who Got Rich This Week is officially back. In the interim, we found that the very rich got significantly richer over the past twelve months, by a combined $200 billion to be exact. The total wealth of the 400 richest Americans grew to $1.7 trillion, with the average net worth of a list member rising to $4.25 billion. Yet while most American billionaires spent the past year getting even richer, 32 managed to lose their spots on the Forbes 400, though for many this was simply because they couldn’t keep pace with the rising tides.

As the market anticipated further manipulation of the money supply by Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve, assets have appreciated significantly since our last edition of Who Got Rich This Week was published in mid-July. The S&P 500 has risen over 8%. Gold is up 12.5%. However, since a third round of quantitative easing was officially announced by the Fed on September 13th, the rally has cooled and stocks are virtually flat. Over last week, the S&P 500 was up less than 1% at Friday’s open. Despite the standstill, several corporate insiders managed to get rich this week. Here, some of the biggest winners from the past seven days, including a new American billionaire:

The Ultimate Refinancing

Ocwen Financial Corporation has been on an absolute tear over the past week. The firm, which describes itself as ”the industry leader in servicing high-risk loans” and proudly boasts “helping homeowners is what we do!”, has been active in the residential mortgage industry since its founding in 1988. In 2010 Ocwen disrupted the industry with its Shared Appreciation Modification model, a creative solution for servicing loans that are underwater. By restructuring mortgages so that homeowners have 5% equity in their properties rather than negative equity, Ocwen creates an incentive for homeowners to keep up with a more affordable payment schedule on a reduced principal. The catch is that when the home is eventually sold, the investor is entitled to 25% of any profits realized by the homeowner. Ocwen’s stock popped more than 35% this week after the company announced a deal to purchase Homeward Residential from WL Ross. The acquisition will add 400,000 loans to Ocwen’s balance sheet. As a result, Executive Chairman William C. Erbey’s nearly 17.8 million Ocwen shares were worth $661.4 million at the open on Friday, $172.1 million more than they were worth a week earlier. Meanwhile, Erbey’s other major public stockholding, Altisource Portfolio Solutions, enjoyed a 33% advance of its own this week. The combined gain has made Mr. Erbey a billionaire on his publicly listed assets alone, which are now worth more than $1.3 billion.

Fortune Facelift

Blake M. Roney founded anti-aging personal care product and nutritional supplement producer Nu Skin Enterprises in 1984 with partner Sandie N. Tillotson. Today, the firm can claim operations in 52 countries around the globe and counts itself as one of the largest direct selling companies in the world. In late September, Nu Skin published the details of its expansion plan for mainland China. The five-year game plan calls not only for expanding Nu Skin’s distribution model in the region, but also for tripling the number of stores and sales support centers in China by 2017. Since the plan was released, the stock has been on the mend, up nearly 11% since last Friday. Though Nu Skin’s shares are still down nearly 12% on the year, Roney has reason to celebrate the past week’s positive performance. His stake in the firm, some 3.4 million shares, is worth $143 million, an increase of $13.8 million over last Friday.

The Real Time Rich

After rising at the open, the S&P 500 finished Friday’s session virtually flat. Stagnant markets couldn’t slow down the world’s richest man, however, as Mexico’s Carlos Slim lead the fifty billionaires that Forbes tracks in real time on Friday in paper gains. The telecom tycoon watched his wealth grow by more than $778 million on the session. Filling out the day’s top five gainers were four Wal-Mart heirs, who are now worth a combined $536 million more than they were worth at the open. Yet not everyone managed to finish the week with a win. Facebook billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz returned to the losers’ circle, each enduring a 4.77% depreciation of their stakes in the floundering social network which just celebrated its 1 billionth user. Facebook’s stock slid after Zynga announced that it had trimmed its 2012 earnings guidance. The social game shop, which is now trading just above book value, has historically been a significant revenue driver for Facebook.

Reflects changes from the market open on Friday September 28 through the open on Friday October 5, 2012.

Thanks to Scott DeCarlo for building and maintaining our insider database screen.

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